Children's Ministry

Children's ministry is very close to our hearts. We have served as Sunday School teachers for ten years in the various cities we have lived in. We have found that Sundays in Nyahuka have been a bit challenging for us as we try to figure out how to get our four children to sit through a two and half hour service in Lubwisi. To make things more interesting, we often find that we are not just in charge of our four kids, but we are often looking after ten other kids who have been sent to church alone by their parents just to get them out of the house. We usually draw a crowd as they jostle to sit by our little ones so they can look at the books or crayons or cars that our kids have brought to the service.

The church we attend has not had a children's ministry for almost two years after losing some of their regular teachers. We often count about fifty children who are wandering in the worship hall and in the yard while the church service is happening. Someone is almost always crying, falling off a bench, hitting another child, or running around, which makes it difficult for the adults to concentrate.  We have been praying regularly for the church to launch a children's ministry again to help engage these little ones with the Word of God.

We thought about starting a ministry on our own, but we realized that a better long term solution would be to support and encourage a local church member who felt called to this task. Well, our prayers have been answered! The congregation recently sent Marc's language instructor (Thomas) to the capital for a training conference on children's ministry. Since returning, he has been faithful at gathering the children together in a building behind the church for singing and Bible stories during the sermon. The first Sunday that he did this, there were sixty-two children who came. He recently asked us if he could borrow our copy of 'The Jesus Storybook Bible' to use for curriculum.

Please pray for Thomas, and Bundamalinga Church, as they seek to share God's love with the children of Bundibugyo. And please pray for these little ones as they faithfully attend each week and now have the opportunity to hear God's word at their level. We look forward to finding ways that we can encourage and empower this ministry.

Backyard Fun

With an average age of 16 years, Uganda is one of the youngest countries in the world. It also has one of the highest birth rates, with each woman having an average of 6 children. So what does this mean for us? Well, it means we have a lot of kids in our yard. A LOT!

Our children have had a blast filling their days by playing with local kids. Whether it's football (ie. soccer), bike riding, sidewalk chalk, tree climbing, exploring, or butterfly hunting, there are always lots of children around to join in on the fun. The local kids also seem to be having a great time congregating in our yard, peering in our windows, checking out our toys, and garbage, and clothes line. While we have been stretched at times acclimating to all of this attention and constant chatter outside our windows, it has been a blessing for our children to have so many playmates. We have enjoyed watching them interact closely with children who have so much less than they do, but also seem to have a real happiness and zest for life.

We've had our hearts broken a few times as well. Recently, we saw one of Eli's friends digging through our garbage heap and pulling out watermelon rinds to eat. We frequently find trash strewn all over our yard as the children look for things that might be useful for food or fun to play with. But as we spend time with so many local kids, many of whom are becoming close friends, we are learning to appreciate the blessings that God has given to our family. We are also learning about our own hearts. I (Marc) often feel like one of the apostles trying to shoo kids away when they are disturbing a family meal or Isaac and Katelyn's nap time, but I can hear Jesus saying, "Let the little children come to me." Pray with us for more patience and appreciation for these little blessings that come calling each day.

Eli is fascinated with all things creepy and crawly. Here he is playing with a lizard. He likes the ones who's tails fall off to escape when he picks them up.

We always have a few kids right outside the door waiting for Eli to come out.

Isaac and Hailey are getting a bit spoiled because there is always a child who is more than happy to carry them around. They are getting a little too accustomed to this mode of transport!

One of our favorite memories was from the day we brought out a net and peanut butter jars and went on a butterfly hunt. The boys loved it, but they couldn't understand why we would want to catch butterflies just for fun. They eat grasshoppers here as a snack, so they couldn't figure out why we would catch and release the butterflies instead of eating them!

It has been a joy to share food and water with our little friends. Watermelon and popcorn have been some of the favorite snacks. Most of these children only eat once a day, so they are always happy to see food when it comes out our door.

Water is a precious resource here, especially during the dry season. The community taps frequently run dry and people have to fetch water from the river, which is contaminated with bacteria and parasites. As more and more children come to play in our yard, we have been getting a lot of requests for water. It is hard to provide water for our kids when they come inside thirsty without answering the requests from the local children. Here is Stephanie providing water to the boys on our doorstep.

One day the kids discovered cardboard boxes in our trash pit from care packages sent by family and friends. Who would have thought when packing these boxes that they would be perfect for sledding in Africa?!?

This is the 'Nyahuka Biker Gang'. We bought two bicycles for Eli and Hailey shortly after we arrived. The other kids would watch them longingly as they rode around the mission property. We realized we were about ten bikes short of having enough for everyone. On our next trip to Fort Portal we came back with eight more riding toys we bought from a missionary family so the kids could have more to share. Within a week, we were again about ten bikes short! This picture shows thirty kids who came to play last week. This is a now a common site in our yard as kids know that we have bikes and scooters! 

Hailey learned how to ride without training wheels in November. Look at her go!

Eli has gained lots of new buddies. The one he has his arms around likes to pretend he is a karate instructor. The boys call him "Teacher". He apparently learned how to do karate by watching Jackie Chan movies. I have no idea where he got them! But he's pretty good and gives karate lessons to the other boys.

Look at those faces! Who wouldn't want to see these smiling kids each day?

Rwenzori Mission School

Eli and Hailey are blessed to have the opportunity to attend Rwenzori Mission School. Named after the Rwenzori Mountains that dominate the landscape of Bundibugyo District, this two room school house has been educating missionary kids with World Harvest Mission for many years. The school currently meets in a building that was originally used for Bible translation when World Harvest worked in partnership with SIL. Now that the New Testament translation is complete, the building has been repurposed as a school. At times during the year, Eli and Hailey were the only students. With the return of two more missionary families, the school is currently bursting at the seems with an enrollment of five. Hailey is in Pre-K with a friend named Finch, Eli is in 1st grade, William is in 3rd grade and Elizabeth is in 7th grade. We have two wonderful teachers, Miss Ashley and Miss Alanna who shower the RMS students with love and knowledge each week.

Rwenzori Mission School

First day of school after our arrival in September. Eli and Hailey love their teacher, Miss Ashley, and their classmate, Finch.

Eli's desk

Hailey's desk

This has been our first year of homework with Eli. Some days are better than others :) With all the children outside our window calling him to come and play, it can be difficult for him to focus on math and spelling. But he is doing a great job. He's turning in his homework to Miss Ashley above.

Drawing reindeer and Christmas trees at the RMS Christmas Party.

Here is Katelyn trying to get in on the action.

Isaac likes to walk the kids to school with his backpack so he can pretend he is going as well.

One of our favorite things about RMS is that it is so close to home. No more rushing out of the house and struggling with car seats to get the kids to school. Just a short walk with a view of the Rwenzori Mountains in the background and we are there! When our new house is finished, we will be right next door.

We are so thankful for the RMS teachers, Miss Ashley and Miss Alanna. We don't know if we would be able to serve here if we were responsible for providing medical care for the community and homeschooling our children. Having a great school with American teachers has been a true blessing for our family. The teachers who are called here are sent through Serge with a two year commitment. They have a vision for serving missionary families by providing a quality education for their children. Miss Ashley will be returning home in the spring of 2017. If you have a degree in education and a heart for missions, would you consider serving in Bundibugyo, Uganda for a two year term? Please contact us or Serge if you would like more information.

Kampala!

YES we are still here! Hopefully, you are keeping current with us through our email updates that we are trying to send out every 1-2 months. We will have another one coming out this week. If however, you were relying on this blog to keep updated with our family... I'm soooo sorry! I had great plans (and still do) of getting on here every week to put together a little post about life in Uganda, but my aspirations appear to have been over ambitious. ;) We are in a busy season of life. Whether we are in Peoria, or in Bundibugyo, life has little margin right now as we parent four little ones and run our house. But we love hearing from you amidst the busyness and it actually helps us to remember to send out little updates like this. And we hope to update more regularly on the blog as routine finds its way into our lives again.

One of the things several people have asked us about over the past few months is how we do our grocery shopping and prepare our food. We are currently living in Nyahuka which is a little village in Bundibugyo district on the western border of Uganda. We are living very comfortably with electricity, indoor plumbing, and an adequate water supply. We have a refrigerator and a propane stove/oven and are even really spoiled with a washing machine. We buy lots of our food items locally each week at market or the little shops in town. We can get seasonal produce, eggs, legumes, rice, sugar, flour, oil, and a few random things like macaroni noodles. We can get fresh tilapia on Saturdays that is caught in a lake a few hours away. However, there are still many things we can't get here (like dairy, canned goods, and cereal) or prefer to buy in the capital city (like meat). So, our family piles into the car every 8-10 weeks to go to Kampala and restock on those items. Our next trip to Kampala is in one week and we are all getting excited for our break. These trips also provide me a break from having to cook every meal for our family! There are several great restaurants in Kampala that safely prepare food and some with menus that even cater to our American tastebuds. One of the malls has a shop with soft serve yogurt where you can put on all the yummy toppings, an outing we all look forward to. The drive to Kampala takes us about 8 hours which includes a lunch stop at our favorite pizza restaurant in Fort Portal. Though long, the drive is still very enjoyable. If you can ignore the pot holes, the many high speed bumps, and all the people yelling "Muzungu!" (which means English speaker) at your car, there is so much to see! I just can't get over the beauty this land has to behold. We usually see some monkeys along the way too which is a little more exciting than seeing another goat or cow.

When we take these trips, we try to spend a few days of our week relaxing. We usually have a pool day where we swim at a local resort or hotel and just enjoy walking around the malls. The rest of the trip is pretty busy as we run endless amounts of errands. Since no single grocery store has everything we need, we usually have to stop at 4-5 places before the shopping list is complete. We place an order at a butcher shop to get meat frozen to allow us to travel back with it. We also freeze a two month supply of butter and cheese that we return with. The cooler is very full!!

And when we have finished all the shopping, we are quite a sight as we head back to Bundibugyo. Cleaning supplies, toilet paper, toiletries, perishables, non-perishables, and the list goes on and on. We were borrowing the vehicle of some teammates when we first arrived and there was not an inch of space to spare. Since then we have purchased a large van which now gives us a bit of extra room.

It is a wonder that we are able to fit the kids in the car. They are hard to even spot!

If you contributed to our one-time expense needs before we left the U.S., YOU helped us purchase this vehicle for our family. THANK YOU!! We feel like we got a really good deal on this vehicle and though it is a 2002 model with nearly 200,000 miles on it, it is much newer than many of the vans we had looked over. It also received a great report from the mechanic who did an inspection for us. You can pray with us that this van with serve our family well for many years to come.